~ Department of History at the University of Cincinnati

Why ‘Our Bodies, Ourselves’ Still Matters

Dr. Wendy Kline was quoted in Newsweek’s ‘The Daily Beast‘ for her reflections on Our Bodies, Ourselves. First published in 1973, the book remains relevant, in part, because of the accessibility of its message.

At the time, abortion was illegal. Most doctors were male. There was little, if any, sex education in schools. So when the group—who’d later call themselves the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective—decided to release a 138-page pamphlet called “Women and Their Bodies” (what would ultimately become Our Bodies Ourselves) it was nothing short of revolutionary. “Our Bodies, Ourselves transformed people’s understanding,” says historian Wendy Kline, a professor at the University of Cincinnati and the author of “Bodies of Knowledge,” about the book’s influence. “It was revolutionary both because it provided so much information, but also because that information was, for the first time, in lay-people’s terms.”